Concerning Colonel Irani's activities, on 9 October, Baba remarked, "All this has no substance. There is nothing in it. It is not real suffering for me. Christ had no roof over his head and had to wander all the time. I have no such hardships, yet I want and rather invite them. Let him write and speak against me. It will bear good results."
So, in actuality, Colonel Irani was a powerful medium for the Master and his work because, due to the Colonel's blasphemous attitude, Meher Baba's name rapidly came into prominence. When the Master began gathering disciples, different Zoroastrian communities were almost fanatically opposed to him. But gradually, as their hostility simmered down, some of those who had been most antagonistic to him eventually bowed their heads at his feet.
In fact, Baba was giving inner help to Colonel Irani to spread more opposition to him as an impetus for his work.
Baba had once warned, "Parsis and Iranis will be the cause of my death."
It did not mean that he would physically fall victim to their attacks; Baba's allusion was to this opposition to his cause. And those who opposed him in the beginning were to find him nearer to them in the end. Baba had to work inwardly very hard and quickly through their opposition to bring them nearer to him, and this labor itself meant his near death. But all this was Baba's wish — to excite his detractors and intensify their opposition. It was Baba's spiritual game and it is impossible to understand the inner work he accomplished through those who opposed him. The important thing is that those whom Baba had said would be "the death" of him came closer to him later, and eventually they realized who he really was.
Later, after dinner and arti on 9 October, Baba sent for the Prem Ashram boys to come to the Manzil. (It had been a long time since he had called them after dinner.) Rustom had recently brought some new gramophone records from Poona (including one featuring a clarinet) and Baba and the boys enjoyed them. Selections were read aloud from The Mystics of Islam , and Baba commented on the passages.1
Baba allowed the boys to bow down to him and each sat quietly afterward close to Baba. One boy, Vasant, continuously stared at Baba and another boy, Dattu, sat with his head on Baba's knees.
Footnotes
- 1.The Mystics of Islam, by Reynold A. Nicholson (1914), "has long been recognized as a classic and definitive introduction to the message of Sufism. This short but comprehensive work by one of the greatest Islamic scholars of the early 20th century provides the general reader with an easy approach to the study of Islamic mysticism."